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A Madly Showy Sunset Blvd.
As Norma Desmond, Nicole Scherzinger is gargantuan and almost feral.
Ever since blurry phone videos of Scherzinger, barefoot and wraithlike in a bias-cut black slip dress—oh, and covered in blood—started flooding social media last fall, musical-theater kids of all ages on this side of the Atlantic have been panting for her gory close-up. Lloyd mics the bejesus out of his shows (here with sound designer Adam Fisher), and the results are mixed: Yes, it’s exciting for Scherzinger to be able to go internal, her breathy whispers beamed into our ears, but on the loud end, the organic power of her voice is eaten by the amplification. David Thaxton is fantastic in the part, building a sturdy arc all the way from comedy—he starts by channeling Lurch, and the massive, underlit close-ups of his face wouldn’t be out of place in Young Frankenstein —to fully felt melodramatic revelation.
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